Difference between headline price and quote

domwild · Aug 13, 2019 8:32 am

Talk to as many builders as you can. I got in my own soil test/footing details ($330) and my own contour report/features ($450) and also got in my own site cost quote plus quote for crushed limestone access way. Not only will builders quote horrendous site costs, they are "Provisional Sums" and not even fixed, so a builder can still exceed them.

Builders will say the standard HIA contract is "fixed cost" and that is bovine excrement.

SPG · Nov 25, 2019 4:07 pm

domwild

Talk to as many builders as you can. I got in my own soil test/footing details ($330) and my own contour report/features ($450) and also got in my own site cost quote plus quote for crushed limestone access way. Not only will builders quote horrendous site costs, they are "Provisional Sums" and not even fixed, so a builder can still exceed them.

Builders will say the standard HIA contract is "fixed cost" and that is bovine excrement.

Hi domwild,

I have build countless houses & worked for a few builders over the past decade or so & have a fairly good understanding of the industry from both sides of the fence.

The HIA contract is in fact considered a fixed price contract, however it is subject to allowances, allowances are in place for any item that cannot be accurately costed at that time, most commonly this is footings cost.

Until an independent footings report has been done how can you reasonably expect the builder to provide a fixed footings cost? every block is different, I have even seen similar houses on the same street with completely different engineers footings specs, sometimes upto $20k difference in cost.

Despite what people might think, major volume builders work on quite slim margins so if they were absorbing those costs they would all be bankrupt.

You did mention getting a footings report done prior to getting quotes which is a great idea, the vast majority of builders are not out to deliberately screw people & will be happy to provide a fixed cost if the relevant information is provided to them.

domwild · Nov 25, 2019 7:16 pm

Get at least three quotes and check with productreview for the percentage of five-star (use) and one star (definite no!) ratings. One builder in Perth had 25% of all ratings as "Do not build there!'.

One builder dropped $10,000 off the quote after being told he may be out of the race, mind you, he was $20,000 dearer with the raw build already. Designers, architects, builders, shires and, worst of all, I make mistakes and by getting several quotes you learn and can even advise builders where mistakes are. Check with the shire if advice from the builder is correct and I saved myself a Development Application and a resulting three-month wait that way.

It is amazing how different quotes are for the same item and you can let builders know, who then will contact a different contractor.

suzyr · Dec 03, 2019 9:16 am

$100k over I would think is very normal. We built 5 years ago and the price was exactly that...$100k over the original price...we did add some extras in but nothing special. The display home we saw had all the bells and whistles...so the end price is always going to be more. It is what it is.